Sriracha Shut Down Halted By Judge — For Now

UPDATE: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien has denied the city of Irwindale's request for a temporary restraining order. For now, Huy Fong Foods Inc. will continue to produce Sriracha as usual. However, representatives for both parties will return to court on November 22 to address the residents' case. Hang on to your hot sauce.

Say it ain't so. The Associate Press reports that Huy Fong Foods, maker of the essential hot sauce Sriracha, has been hit with a lawsuit by the city of Irwindale, California. City officials say that the chili odor from the SoCal-based plant is so strong that it's a public nuisance, causing "burning eyes, irritated throats, and headaches." Some families have even felt compelled to move. The AP reports that Huy Fong initially cooperated with the city, but then denied that the smell emanating from its factory was a problem. The lawsuit would temporarily shutter the factory, soon leaving millions without any way to properly season their pho and pork buns. Don't even talk about those other knockoffs.

Photo: Courtesy Huy Fong Foods.

The company was founded 33 years ago by a Vietnamese immigrant named David Tran, who was looking for a way to bring the flavors of traditional sriracha hot sauce he knew and loved to the Southeast Asian community in Los Angeles. From there, of course, it became one of the more popular condiments in the world. According to a recent article by Quartz, the media-shy Tran apparently doesn't care about profits, despite the fact that his company sold 20 million bottles of hot sauce and reaped about $60 million last year alone. His motive, he told Quartz, is simply "to make enough fresh chili sauce so that everyone who wants Huy Fong can have it. Nothing more." And, really, isn't that what we all want? (CBC News)

March is Women’s History Month (hurray!), and as a
bona fide caffeine addict, I feel it is my duty to elevate and celebrate Melitta Bentz — without her, we might not have our morning drip coffee. Melitta was a housewife from Dresden who invented the paper filter
using her son’s school notebook. Prior to this read

You've heard all the jokes about British cuisine. You know, about the bland, doughy, deep-fried fare that gets served up at pubs and the like. You'd fire back, but, frankly, you're too busy feasting your way through London to bother. The city that was once a punchline for food snobs is now a gastronomic capital — and read